The Byzantine Settlement of Monemvasia and its Significance in Trade and War (Sixth century — 1248)

The ancients were aware of the steep rocky crag that stands just off the coast of the Peloponnesus (194 meters high and 1.8 kilometers long), and they made use of its strategic significance. Since the earliest fortification was known as "Minoa", some scholars have contended that its origins date from the Minoan period. The fort defended both the coast and the wide bay at Epidauros Limera, which has served as a harbor throughout history. Unfortunately, there are no remains of the original Minoan fortification.

The date for the first settlement on the rocky crag is not known. The second century traveler, Pausanias, who, in his Guide to Greece, recounted the various regions, settlements, and artistic monuments which he observed on his extensive travels, did not mention any settlement, but only the cape of Minoa. Recently a scholar has determined the exact date for the founding of the city on the cliffs: Two small chronicles record that Emperor Maurice established Monemvasia on the cliffs off the coast of the Peloponnesus in the first year of his reign. Maurice came to the throne in August 582. Since the establishing of the city was most likely not one of his first official acts, we can assume that Monemvasia was founded in the spring of 583. But Monemvasia cannot have been a very important settlement at the time of its founding, for during the sixth century the Byzantine fleet still used the harbor of Tainaron on the southern end of the Maina as its intermediate station for passages to Sicily, though later Monemvasia became the usual half way stop.
The first written reference to Monemvasia dates from 723. It occurs in the description of a journey from Germany to Jerusalem, undertaken by the Bishop of Eichstätt, the former Irish monk, St. Willibald. On his way he made a stop "in the city Manafasia".

The settlement on the rock, and the founding of the city of Monemvasia occurred in connection with events which were of great significance for the general history of Greece. The fourth century saw the advance of foreign peoples to the southern end of the Peloponnesus. Under the leadership of King Alaric, the Goths first conquered Athens, and then, in 396, ravaged the city of Sparta, which is only about 100 kilometers away from Monemvasia. Other fortified cities and sanctuaries likewise failed to hold their own against the assault of advancing Slavs and Avars. Hence, the populace of the city of Epidauros Limera first withdrew to a rocky protrusion on the coast north of Monemvasia, and then exchanged this uncertain domicile for the protection of the unassailable rock of Monemvasia itself. The remains of the city wall and the acropolis of Epidauros Limera can still be seen among the grain fields on a knoll on the northern shore of the wide bay at Monemvasia. This part of the history of the city still lives in the contemporary regional designations. The residents call the knoll, where the city of Epidauros Limera lay, "Kastraki" (or little fortress), and several houses that stand directly on the northeast shore are still known as "Palaea Monemvasia" (or old Monemvasia).

The resettlement onto the rock must have started in 583. There are documents from 746 which refer to Monemvasia as the most important city on the east coast of the Peloponnesus. The city's geographic location was advantageous in two ways: Its proximity to the unassailable cliffs afforded its inhabitants ready protection, while the two wide bays provided a harbor for numerous ships, and led to the rapid growth of a maritime population. Within a few years the city flourished, becoming one of the chief intermediate stations and reshipment centers on the trade route between the western Mediterranean and the Levant, the most important maritime route of the Middle Ages. Every ship that sailed from the West to Constantinople or Asia Minor had to pass between Crete and Cape Malea on the southern end of the Peloponnesus, and thus past Monemvasia. No fleet could reach the Greek islands or approach the capital of the Byzantine Empire without being noticed by the inhabitants of Monemvasia. The significance of this exposed location is still evident today, especially if one stands on the wall of the upper city, and looks to the south and southwest. It is no wonder that Byzantine emperors always tried to keep Monemvasia within their imperium, and to buy loyalty and friendship of the residents by granting them special rights and privileges. Likewise, later foreign conquerors always tried to occupy Monemvasia, for it could aid their own military enterprises, and it served as an essential part of the defense of the Byzantine Empire. This strategic significance lasted into the Second World War; when the English army withdrew from Monemvasia to Crete, a German garrison replaced the English force on the rock.

Engraving from Dapper's "Morea" of 1688

However, Monemvasia's importance during the Middle Ages was not based solely upon its strategic location, for it also became an important commercial center on the trade route to the Levant. This fact made it possible for the residents to amass great fortunes. Monemvasia's former wealth is evident in the numerous towers, churches, and palaces to be seen in representations of the medieval cityscape.

The residents of Monemvasia were famous not only as excellent seamen, who served as captains and sailors in the Byzantine navy, but also as merchants, who were quite capable of competing with traders from the western Mediterranean. More than anything else, one product, malmsey wine, spread the fame of Monemvasia far and wide. At first, the grapes for this wine were cultivated only on the mainland, north of the city, but later they were introduced on the Greek islands as well. Malmsey wine was popular in the medieval courts of Europe in the way that champagne became popular with the bourgeoisie in the later centuries. The term "malmsey" itself is a corruption of the word "Monemvasia."

The first city on the rock of Monemvasia was built in 583 on the inclined plateau, where nearby residents of the mainland had fled from the Slavs and Avars. In comparison to other possible locations, this tableland offered the greatest defense against raids and pillaging. Thus, the flight of the Greeks to Monemvasia can be compared to the flight of the northern Italians to the lagoons of Venetia, or to the withdrawal of the residents of the Dalmatian coast to the reef of Ragusa (Dubrovnik). In each case, the threat of barbarian attack led to the establishment of new settlements.

The nature of the rocky crag, its single entrance, and its steep surrounding cliffs, protected the city, so that it was unnecessary to build a wall around the entire plateau. To make the city unassailable, it was necessary to build fortifications only at a few points. (The name "Monemvasia" comes from the medieval Greek term for "single entrance" — mone embasis.)

The fact that, as early as 727 Monemvasia (together with Athens, Nauplia, and the Cyclades Islands) assembled an army and a navy to oppose the iconoclastic Emperor Leo III is evidence of the city's rapid rise, and of the selfassurance of its citizens. The military expedition was a failure, but it indicates that this new city was anything but a helpless settlement of refugees fighting for its own survival.

In 747 Monemvasia suffered a serious setback. The year before a plague had broken out in the near east. Unknowingly, merchants brought the disease back with them to the West. It spread from Sicily and Calabria, via Monemvasia, to the rest of Greece, devastating in particular the eastern coast of the Peloponnesus, the Cyclades Islands, and Monemvasia itself. Byzantine historians report that few people escaped the epidemic, and that wide tracts of land, especially in the southern Peloponnesus, were nearly depopulated. The result was that Slavic and Albanian settlers began to move into the Peloponnesus, supported by the Byzantine emperor, who was more interested in securing a strong tax base than in maintaining a purely Greek population.

Monemvasia, however, rapidly recovered from the effects of the plague, not only regaining its former importance, but in fact surpassing it. The wealth of the residents attracted the attention of Arabian pirates, who, at this time, menaced the entire Mediterranean. They conquered Crete and Sicily, and forced the residents of Greek coastal cities to withdraw to inaccessible mountainous areas, in order to protect their property against pillaging and their families from slavery. In western Europe armies of Arabs advanced through Spain into southern France; in Greece they even sacked and destroyed wellfortified cities like Thessalonica. Monemvasia, however, did not share this fate. The intense assault of the Arabian pirate ships could not overcome the invincible walls of the city, and the valiant defense put up by the local residents. After repeated attacks, the pirates departed in defeat.

The Normans of Sicily were equally unsuccessful in their attacks against Monemvasia. King Roger II attempted to conquer the Byzantine empire, hoping to outdo his west European cousins, who had taken England in 1066. In 1147 Norman Sicilian ships appeared before Monemvasia, after conquering Corfu, and plundering the west coast of Greece the year before. The populace of the invincible rock, however, boldly resisted the Normans, inflicted heavy losses on them, and finally defeated them.

It is no wonder that a city which was able to increase its own wealth and to defend its own independence approached its lord, the Byzantine emperor, with self confidence. It did not depend upon the emperor for aid against its enemies; quite the opposite, it provided military forces to support the emperor, or, as happened in 727, to oppose him. The relationship between Monemvasia and Constantinople was like that between Venice and Ragusa or between Naples and Amalfi; Constantinople was not the sovereign per se over Monemvasia, rather, both cooperated in a partnership of mutual defense.

Over the years the residents of Monemvasia succeeded in acquiring a number of special freedoms and privileges from the emperor. Each new ruler hastened to confirm and extend these grants. Thus, the bishop of Monemvasia was elevated to the level of a metropolitan, with a position of preeminence in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Orthodox Church. The merchants of Monemvasia received tax privileges and commercial rights throughout the empire. Monemvasia's churches and citizens were invested with estates which extended the city's holdings on the mainland to the southern tip of the Parnon peninsula, and even into the plain of Sparta. Emperor Andronicus II, the great patron of Monemvasia, issued a "Golden Bull" in 1301 which listed part of the metropolitan's estates and privileges. (Today the bull is in the Byzantine Museum in Athens. The golden bull shows both Andronicus II and Christ, and is one of the most beautiful pieces in the exhibit of illuminated manuscripts.) Goods from these estates in part provided the merchandise which was the basis of Monemvasia's commercial success. These wares included not only malmsey wine, but during the Byzantine period the chief commercial goods also consisted of grain, wood, straw, leather, furs, cloth, woolen material, linseed, salted fish and meat, and various animals. Under the Venetians, the main articles of trade were olive oil, rasins, grain, silk, wool, cotton, cordovan, and wax. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, only grain, olive oil, maize, onions, and cheese were still being traded. In addition to goods for export, the estates of the mainland also had to produce the provisions needed for local consumptions. This was no small accomplishment, considering the fact that, during its heyday, Monemvasia had a population of 40,000 to 50,000.

The most important supplier of foodstuffs for Monemvasia was the village of Velies, which lies a few kilometers northwest of Monemvasia. Today one can reach this little village, situated on the new road to Neapolis, by travelling about 12 kilometers north of Monemvasia to the intersection, where the road to Neapolis turns southwards. In the Middle Ages daily donkey caravans must have crossed the mountains between Velies and Monemvasia in order to transport the produce of the fields, gardens, and vinyards to the streets and market squares of Monemvasia, and up the steep ascent to the upper city.

Within the city walls there was (and is) practically no arable land. The only exception is a small depression in the surface of the plateau, which, according to reports from the seventeenth century, could produce enough grain for a force of 50 to 60 soldiers. Though this small field was most important when the city was under siege, it was really insignificant in comparison to the city's constant needs for provisions.
The class structure in medieval Monemvasia was similar to that of other Greek cities. It included imperial officials, local aristocrats (called archons), the clergy, and free citizens, who, like the other groups, could hold fiefs and landed estates. Outside of the cities, especially in those places where Slavic immigrants had replaced the Greek populace, a free citizenry did not exist. In such places there existed only propertied lords with their serfs and slaves. This was also the case where the Church held allodial lands. Thus the very population that tilled the land and provisioned the cities and monasteries was mostly subject and unfree.

The archons, who ruled Monemvasia with aristocratic autonomy, came from three families, the Mamonas, the Manoiannis, and the Sophianos. They were the privileged leaders of the city, more comparable to the Hanseatic merchant magnates than to the European feudal aristocracy. Indeed, the archons of Monemvasia were not above piracy, so that the distinction between aristocratic merchant and unscrupulous corsair often became blurred. However, the archons always showed great skill when it came to protecting the independence of Monemvasia. The city never suffered from the numerous coups and revolutions, which were so characteristic of the Byzantine empire. Monemvasia was far enough away from the center of power, and well enough fortified to be able to defend itself against all attackers, and to withstand the numerous political changes without harm. A special privilege from the Emperor helped to ensure that the city would remain sufficiently strong to resist its attackers. This law indicates both the self assurence of the community, and the sense of duty of the citizenry. When a resident of the city died without a direct heir, the city confiscated the estate, and used it to maintain and expand the city's defense. This law seemed sensible to the citizenry, hence it remained in force. Even conquerors in later centuries did not attempt to change it.